Hundreds expected to attend Day on Broadway event downtown

Bringing Back Broadway at the Palace Theater

Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times

Hundreds are expected to turn out Saturday for the sixth anniversary of the Bringing Back Broadway campaign, which will include tours of some of downtown Los Angeles' historic theaters, including the Palace Theater, above.

Hundreds are expected to turn out Saturday for the sixth anniversary of the Bringing Back Broadway campaign, which will include tours of some of downtown Los Angeles' historic theaters, including the Palace Theater, above. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

More than 1,200 Angelenos are expected to fill the street on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to celebrate the rebirth of a historic neighborhood that had once gone dark and vacant.

The afternoon festivities, dubbed Day on Broadway, will include craft beer classes, a scavenger hunt race and walking tours of some of the historic theaters along Broadway. More than 1,200 participants signed up, according to event organizers, and more than 60 teams signed up for “The Best of Broadway” race.

“This will be a lot of fun celebrating serious revitalization of a street and downtown community on the upswing,” said Rick Coca, a spokesman for City Councilman Jose Huizar, who launched his Bringing Back Broadway initiative six years ago.

Huizar’s 10-year plan is designed to revitalize the historic Broadway corridor in downtown, with goals of providing economic development and getting the more than 1 million square feet of vacant commercial space back to use, according to Huizar’s office.

In recent years, new businesses on Broadway have included Umami Burger, Figaro Bistro, Urban Outfitters at the historic Rialto Theater, and the Ace Hotel Downtown Los Angeles at the historic United Artists Theater.

Saturday’s event, also hosted by the L.A. Conservancy and a number of others, begins at 12:30 p.m. at Joe’s Parking Lot near 9th Street and Broadway.